The Animal In Us All
by ThoughtfulTikal
Summary: Surely the darkness inside Sonic will fully break free someday. When it does, where does it take him, and who is affected by it? And how does he recover from it?


On a dark, cold, rainy night, that's when it happened.

Mobius would no longer have to put up with anymore of Doctor Eggman's schemes or tricks.

Eggman choked for air and begged for mercy from the tight hold he was in. "P-please... spare me!"

The scientist tried and tried with all his might to pry Dark Sonic's hands from around his neck... but his arch-nemesis was far gone. His eyes never showed life like the precious lives he vowed to keep safe; instead they gave off a demonic green color.  
The events that led up to now didn't matter anymore. There was just one and only one thing the hedgehog would accomplish: ending everything for this aged man in his murderous grasp.

Eggman conjured up mechanical devices for every time he devised a plan, but this time neither of those options would help.

Soon the last breath from the Robotnik descendant left his body, and so those screams and cries for mercy faded away. He would only remember the feeling of the chilly, wet rain and that devilish look in his arch nemesis's eyes.

Dark Sonic loosened his grip and watched Eggman fall onto his back. Putting the doctor's life to an end was what the darkness in Dark Sonic pushed him to do.

Even as the freezing rain seeped through his fur and into his skin, Dark Sonic's heart regained its kind warmth and his hatred began to crawl back to whence it came.

"What have I just done?"

Slowly losing his monstrous side, the hedgehog looked down at his hands. Figuratively speaking, they were covered with blood. There were so many reasons for Sonic to put an end to Eggman's plots, but never to kill the evil genius.

Trapped in the truth of his evident sin, the blue blur fell to his knees and buried his face with his hands. The guilt of his action would never vanish, no matter how many times Sonic washed his gloves.

"Hey..."

Sonic turned towards the source of this feminine voice. He discovered his girlfriend, Rouge The Bat, who was holding a purple umbrella. She slowly made her way over to him and held her umbrella over both of them.

"I know this wasn't the sort of fight you had in mind... but he had it coming."

"Did he?" Sonic's voice trembled with devastation.

Sonic's eyes moistened and started to send drops of tears down his cheeks. Not only did his throat begin to feel dry, but a lump got stuck in it.

"Yes, he did... I hate to admit this myself, that someday something like this would happen. Somewhere between you two was a small friendship. When we were all on the ARK, he knew he could trust you, Fox Boy, and Knuckles to help save Earth. After that, he did everything he could to keep trying to destroy you."

What Rouge said was the truth Eggman had continuously tried his hardest to put an end to him. That interstellar space amusement park had been the best of his schemes, Sonic helplessly admitted.

Rouge waited for her boyfriend to lift his head back up. She could feel his sadness spreading over to her and bringing gloom to her own free spirit.

Sonic looked up and locked his teary eyes onto her dry ones. "Well, you are right about that last part." Sonic sniffed and wiped his nose, "Guess I just feel like a part of me went with him."

"It's alright to feel that way." Rouge put her hand on Sonic's cheek and caressed it. The vividness in his eyes was coming back. "You were his arch-nemesis but you had fun with it. What other people would've took extra serious, you kept a grin and took care of it no problem."

"Yeah."

Soon Sonic's eyes were recognizable, his lips curled into a tiny smile. He laid his hand on top of Rouge's where it still was and squeezed it. "I still don't know if I can forgive myself... I wasn't ready to end it here."

From out of nowhere, Sonic received a soft kiss on the cheek. It'd heated him up when with the rain still pouring around him.

"Well forgiving yourself takes time. I'm sure that some part inside the Doctor would expect you to do the same thing. He knew you didn't mean to kill him."

Sonic smiled weakly as he acknowledged these words.

Even as the person he was, Dr. Eggman had to admit that Sonic had one of the purest hearts of gold. In fact the hedgehog had helped him out on occasions different from the ARK crisis.

"In the meantime, why don't we go on a vacation? See if there's any new adventures for us to take on?" Rouge continued with her speaking.

"Hm..." Sonic wiped his eyes to get rid of the rest of the tears. Rouge's words touched him; if the bat hadn't appeared at the time she did, Sonic wasn't sure how he would react.

But everything would get better. This was the motto he kept and the same one he told his friends.

Sonic had known and fought against Dr. Eggman ever since he was four and lived on Christmas Island. Every meet was pretty much the same, as a routine. The hero and villain relationship always existed, Sonic expected the "next time" his foe would return with a "better" plan. He heard of evil being afoot and guessed it to be none other than the egg-shaped scientist. That's how it was.

And now, with no more chances of a lifestyle like that, Sonic would have to move on. Where ever the wind took him, it surely would take him to a place even better than where he was now.

As his ally and companion, Rouge would stay by his side and follow.

A smile wider than before played on Sonic's lips. "Vacation sounds good. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, this is just a rumor, but I hear there's a dimension closely linked to ours that Fox Boy could send us to."

"Just what is this special dimension?"

"Mushroom Kingdom I believe."

"A kingdom..." Sonic smirked at this thought as he pulled Rouge by her waist.  
She smiled at him, very glad to have her good ole' Blue Boy back. "From the way you're smiling I take it this place sounds good to you?"

"Definitely!"

Three days passed since Sonic killed Dr. Eggman. The hedgehog had his nemesis buried in the most peaceful cemetery he knew of, and laid an extravagant bouquet of roses on his grave.

The disappointment and lack of forgiveness Sonic kept for himself was gone, and now the hero could have his life back.

Him and Rouge readied themselves for their trip to this rumored Mushroom Kingdom. Whatever it contained, Sonic was excited and prepared to take it on, never forgetting his first foe, but running onto the rest of his life with that same free spirit everyone loved and knew him for.


End file.
